The English may be responsible for creating the Beautiful Game, but it was the Brazilians who perfected it. In our series of Brazilian legends, we look at the fantastic Romario.
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Romário de Souza Faria, or simply Romario, was one of the best strikers of all time.
Built like a certain Argentinian maestro by the name of Diego Maradona, his low centre of gravity and strength off either foot made him a nightmare for defenders. He also possessed an unbelievable burst of speed which is key for any striker worth his salt. His acceleration from a starting position over the first ten yards was peerless and gave him a distinct advantage over anyone trying to stop him.
His trademark was the rapid toe-poke finish. It was a huge weapon in his arsenal as goalkeepers rarely had time to set themselves and before they knew it the ball was nestling in the back of the net, with Romario wheeling off to celebrate yet another goal.
In one-on-one situations with goalkeepers, invariably the pint sized Brazilian would win. Like JOE eating our dinner, Romario was a devastating finisher and he had a fantastic career at clubs such as Vasco da Gama, Flamengo and Fluminese in Brazil, plus he had successful spells in Europe with PSV and Barcelona.
For Brazil he became a goal scoring machine. In the 70 games he played for Brazil he scored an incredible 55 goals. When Brazil won their fourth World Cup in the US in 1994, it was his partnership with Bebeto which was chiefly responsible.
He finished that tournament as the Golden Ball winner with five goals and, although he didn’t score in the final against Italy, he did stick the second penalty away for his team in the shoot-out.
What a legend.
Brought to you with thanks to Pot Noodle Brazilian BBQ Steak Flavour.
